THE MANNISH BOYS "LOWDOWN FEELIN" Source: Blues Critic Date: 07/2008 Writer: n/a

**** 1/2 17 tracks of near Blues perfection from the Delta Groove all-stars The Mannish Boys. Each new release seems to get better from this revolving aggregation. "Lowdown Feelin'"  may be a shoe-in for "Blues CD Of 2008". In fact I'm running out of superlatives in describing Mannish Boys albums. The pages of my thesaurus are stained yellow from my fingers. I may as well list the credits as that says plenty.

Bobby Jones gets seven turns at the microphone this time out from an original Randy Chortkoff number ("Searchin' Blues") to Howlin' Wolf's "Chocolate Drop" to Junior Parker's "These Kind Of Blues". Original member Finis Tasby warbles his way through the title track, Albert Collins' "If The Washing Don't Get You, The Rinsing Will" and "Something's Wrong".  Johnny Dyer handles the hoary "The Same Thing" (Willie Dixon) and "Good Times". Good singers they be but I can't help wondering why labelmate Jackie Payne wasn't invited to the party!

Though it's hard to pinpoint the "official" lineup of the Mannish Boys the usual suspects are lead fiddlers Kid Ramos, Kirk "Eli" Fletcher & Frank "Paris Slim" Goldwasser (also vocals on "Reet, Petite & Gone"), Richard Innes on drums, James Weber & Tom Leavey on bass, label owner Chortkoff on harmonica. "And it wouldn't be a Mannish Boys CD without special guests to keep things interesting" says the liner notes. This time we Blues harpster Lynwood Slim, Junior Watson, Al Blake, Fred Scribner and Little Sammy Davis (who sings lead on two tracks). Essential purchase. A few more originals and this would've gotten the coveted "five star" rating.